CA To Block Stolen and Fake Phones

The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) plans to wipe out fake and illegal devices that have saturated the country’s mobile phone market by blocking them.

The Agency said on Thursday it will create a database where all mobile phones in the country will be listed to help identify real and fake devices. Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) will then block the latter from accessing their services.

“The system will enable the registration of mobile devices, verification of International Mobile Equipment Identities (IMEIs) of counterfeit, stolen or lost devices and illegal devices,” part of the statement by CA reads.

It added: “The system shall function by analysing data dumps received from MNOs and generate a blacklist, a white list and a grey list,”

According to CA, the biggest threat that mobile phone user in Kenya faces today is the loss or theft of their phones. Stolen phones are usually a headache to their owners as they often contain personal and financial data stored in the handsets or in the SIM cards. Thieves often use such personal data to scam close people of the victim they have stolen the phone from to send them money or use the details obtained to access their mobile money wallets.